Snafus Vex Voters At Orland Park Polls

Officials Sent Some From Place To Place

November 05, 1998|By Anthony Colarossi, Tribune Staff Writer.

The Village of Orland Park received several dozen calls Tuesday from frustrated would-be voters, who were denied the chance to complete ballots or were delayed while election workers verified registration, a village spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The situation forced some voters to bounce back and forth between polling places. Others had to sign affidavits to vote when their precinct information could not be located.

"Yes, there were some problems," said village spokeswoman Jodi Marneris, who added that the village received an unusually high number of calls.

Officials had no total for the number of residents who had problems casting their votes.

Marneris said the village has no direct control over the election, so complaints were referred to the Cook County clerk's office, she said.

That is the office resident Lola Kapaldo called after she was prevented from voting Tuesday.

"They took (the ballot) right out of my hands," said Kapaldo, who said she was turned away from one Wolf Road polling place and sent to another down the street. "They wouldn't let me put (the ballot) in the blue box."

Later, Kapaldo contacted the county clerk's office and was told there was no record of her having registered to vote.

"If I'm not registered, how come I have a voting card?" Kapaldo said. "I've voted all my life."

Some officials are attributing the problem to the area's rapid growth, which has resulted in split precincts and relocated polling places. In addition, a change of address or last name or voting inactivity for three years could affect whether, how and where a person can vote.

Orland Park Village Clerk David Maher said he believes the problem was due mostly to a new countywide computer system that tracks registered voters. The new system provided the registration books Orland Park election judges used but may have left out some names, he said.

Maher told voters who were turned away to contact the Cook County clerk's office.

"We had phone calls and people coming in all day, and it was explained to them how to handle the situation," Maher said.

But Clem Balanoff, a deputy director at the Cook County clerk's office, said that the new computer system was put on line for the primary in March and that he was unaware of the system causing the mixups described in Orland Park.

Early in the day, she said, judges tried to direct voters to the places they should be voting.

Marilyn and Robert Steffek said they spent more than 90 minutes trying to find their polling place.

"It's been a royal runaround," said Marilyn Steffek outside a village building Tuesday. "This is our second trip back here. Now they're telling us we're back over there. You're ready to throw in the towel and say, `I don't want to vote.' "